Mumbaikars are finally moving towards the mobile application for booking local train tickets through UTS App. In the recent, the Central Railway has seen more than 78.14 lakh people booking 14.20 lakh local train daily tickets and Season Passes in May this year.
Since December last year, it has seen an incremental growth with 5.93 lakh tickets booked through UTS App which was used by 33.90 lakh people to travel.
Since December 2021, the number of passengers using the UTS App to book their tickets rose by 56 per cent. According to officials from Central Railway, post-Covid-19, they are trying to provide thrust to digital and paperless booking through UTS mobile ticketing.
“Post Covid, an increasing number of commuters are opting for digital UTS mobile ticketing system. This has certainly increased the share of digital ticketing and are buying journey tickets and season passes through UTS mobile app,” said a CR official.
In December last year, the number of tickets sold through the UTS App stood at 5.93 lakh which was then used to travel by 33.90 lakh commuters. And since then, these numbers are on a rise. By March this year, the sale of tickets through the UTS App crossed seven figures which stood at 11.28 lakh and 67.24 lakh commuters travelled using digital ticketing.
In May alone, over 14.20 lakh tickets have booked digitally and a total of 78.13 lakh passengers travelled on the Mumbai local trains using UTS App. This reflects a daily average of 54,635 tickets and 3,00,521 passengers each day.
“During pre-Covid in March 2020, a total of 12,79,095 UTS mobile tickets were booked, whereas last month during April 2022, the suburban tickets booked through UTS mobile app were 14,00,060 tickets showing an increase of 9.45 per cent. The percentage share of buying of suburban tickets through UTS Mobile app during April 2022 is 5.79 % over other ticketing types like UTS counter tickets, ATVM, JTBS etc.,” said Shivaji Sutar, Chief PRO, Central Railway.
The rail officials claim that App-based ticketing systems is an innovation that will outlast the Covid-19 pandemic and help both the passengers and the Railways in many ways like paperless transaction and initiating a shift towards a more cashless and digital economy. The railways are initiating several campaigns to popularize the UTS Mobile app.
Several drives have been conducted at various stations to educate passengers about the features of the UTS app, the procedure to download it and how to use the same.
In addition to this, UTS App promotion is also being done by advertising on ticket rolls, animated videos and radio jingles and a central announcement system for the suburban railway system.
It helps the passengers with the paperless transaction, saves time and is a greener alternative as it promotes the use of gadgets like smartphones. The last two years have been dealt a blow on a global scale, with people confined to their homes due to the novel Coronavirus. The need for social distancing and decongestion of booking offices has pushed for the adoption of a digital approach to buying railway tickets.
PM
